Visitation Hours
In the darkness of Kakariko Village stumbled a slumped figure. It blended in entirely with the deep billowing inkiness from the night that shrouded the quiet village. A shadowy cloak swirled alluringly around its form as it stumbled forward blindly. The light of a lamp from a nearby house revealed the outline of a man as he entered its glow.
Vaati was having a hard time moving on his own. His hand was clutched to his chest and as he attempted another step forward, his other arm shot out to grab the support of the house from which the lantern hung. He winced from severe pain.
He needed to find them, the only ones who could help him. He felt exceptionally foolish for falling into such a situation where he desperately needed the help of another. He dropped his guard and paid for it. It was unlike him to completely forget about the defenses he'd so meticulously been building ever since his arrival. What changed? He ridiculed his inner musings for the moment. He needed to focus on finding her.
He'd long since stopped relying on his sight on his trek through the town. The night was too dark to tell anything by and he could smell rain in the atmosphere. Using a form of detection magic, he fanned his consciousness outwards. It was much more reliable than eyesight alone. He could see the whole layout of the village and its inhabitants inside his mind, all outlined in white. He swept the whole village like this and cursed aloud, causing him to hiss in pain once again.
They weren't here. Where were they? His thoughts became frantic as he started to feel hazy. Was he blacking out from the pain already? He almost laughed at the sheer stupidity that brought him to this point, but kept it down. Had he been mistaken in thinking they lived here?
The first raindrop landed directly atop his head, sending him further into misery. This wasn't turning out to be one of his better days. Another wave of pain disoriented him. He momentarily forgot his objective. What was he doing again? He was searching, he reminded himself. For what? A bed. Boy, did that sound nice right then. No! What was it he needed?
Help. He needed help. His pride all but drowned out in his current state of being, he prepared one more spell. It was all he was going to have energy for. If they lived here like he thought, but were not there presently, traces of their essence would be.
He concentrated on his hand that held him up on the wall. The fingers flexed and the knuckles turned white, but this time not from pain. The white of his knuckles appeared to be peeling away from his hand in a misty substance. The whiteness was glowing and branching away from his fingers, arching in a web across the wall. The strands melded into one single thread that followed the wall down to the ground where it snaked through the blades of grass. He watched it slither around the building and out of sight. As the white line was beginning to fade, something new took its place. Ghostly footprints slowly marched around the building.
He trudged after them, glad it was too late in the night for anyone to come across him like this. Slowly, he ambled after the marks on the ground that led him to where he needed to go. He hoped to the gods that it wasn't far. Luckily for him, it was mostly a straight-shot. About halfway down the path he was led, he was starting to really feel the sway of unconsciousness fall on him. His vision was becoming blurry around the edges and only the pure white foot prints could be seen clearly. On top of that, the rain had started to come down by the bucket-full.
He was nearing the end of the line he followed. As he came upon the last set of prints, it was revealed that that was not the end. It wove around to the left and sloped upward.
'Stairs,' Vaati thought bitterly. It was at that point that he realized he wasn't going to make it up to where the footprints were telling him to go. He couldn't even drag himself up the first few steps because of the added weight to his cloak that the rain had caused.
He barely had any feeling left, but he knew he had fallen. He lay there, on the wet steps, thinking sorrowfully to himself. He lived his whole life in fear of rain, and now, it was going to be the end of him…
0000
Link sulked as the rain matted his hair in front of his eyes. About halfway back to the village, it started to really come down. By the time they'd reached the stairs leading up to the village, his clothes were completely soaked through. He'd long since given up trying to shield his face from the torrent. It was utterly useless.
Marickiya on the other hand, was having a blast. She could not keep from smiling as the droplets came down on her. It was quite humorous actually.
"I'm guessing you've never really had much experience with this phenomenal weather," Link only wished his clothes were as dry as the tone of voice he'd just used. She giggled at his sarcastic remark.
"Not much, no." She said happily, raking her fingers through her wet hair to get it out of her face. "It's just so refreshing. It never rained like this in the desert." She held her arms out to signify the onslaught. Then she stopped walking and reached up as if trying to touch the clouds. Her face fell as it was tilted upwards. She hummed quietly.
"What is it?" Link asked, halting a few paces ahead of her. She brought her arms back to her sides but continued to look skyward.
"I just… sometimes wonder why I didn't leave sooner." Link was drinking in her expression with fascination.
"Was it bad?" Her eyes trailed towards the ground and nodded once. She opened her mouth, about to say more, but she stopped to stare ahead, her voice lost. Link examined her bizarre expression then followed her gaze.
"What is that?" Link said aloud. Marickiya sprinted off towards a mass blocking the way to the house before he could reach out and stop her. He hurried after her to the bottom of the stairs leading up to their house. The closer he got, he realized the heap on the ground at the foot of the steps was a person. Marickiya had knelt down beside where he guessed their face was and was checking them over. She felt their forehead and then their neck.
"He's alive," she mumbled and then brushed aside the hair covering the man's face. She gasped. "It's Vaati." She looked up with her brows furrowed. "Link we have to get him inside."
"What? No," Link stammered at first. Mari looked up at him incredulously.
"What do you mean, 'no'? We can't leave him out here like this." She glared at him.
"You barely know him," he started to say but was realizing quickly he'd said the wrong thing.
"You barely knew me when you offered for me to stay here." She stated defiantly. She glowered at him waiting for him to give it up. He knew he'd been beaten. He frowned on his way over to Vaati's other arm. The both of them lifted him up on either side and tried making their way up the stairs, but it was an awkward climb.
"Why's he so heavy?" Link grunted. Marickiya looked behind them and saw Vaati's drenched cloak dragging behind.
"I think his cloak is weighing him down. Here, I'll unclasp it," she said and placed her hand on Vaati's chest in search of the fastener. She gasped when he winced and groaned rather loudly. She felt his hand on her shoulder clench.
"What did you do?" Link asked in alarm. Mari didn't say anything, just located the button on his cloak and let it fall.
"Oh dear," she faltered. Blood coated the hand she had touched him with. The sorcerer had fallen limp once more. "He's hurt pretty badly." Link noted the blood on her hands and nodded gruffly. Without any more words, they climbed the steps and headed through their front door. They closed it behind them which muffled the sounds of the pelting water droplets outside.
"I can hold him for a second while you get some lights on." He said evenly, though she knew it was a strain holding the unconscious man.
He felt her move away and there was an immediate crash.
"Marickiya," Link asked of the darkness. It was quiet save for a few shuffling and then a light illuminated the loft.
"Aw man. They trashed the place."
A few broken pieces of furniture were littered about and the whole place seemed to have been turned upside down. Marickiya cleared a path towards Link's bed against the far wall. It had been moved and was at an awkward angle making it harder to lay the mage correctly on the bed. With him no longer held between the two of them, and no cloak to cover it, his wound was open for all to see.
It was in the shape of a circle. The center of it was caked in coagulated blood, while the outer part of it was bruised and charred.
"How do we go about cleaning it?" Marickiya asked with uncertainty. Link, though unhappy about their uninvited guest, wasn't about let him bleed to death. On his bed, no less. He wordlessly moved over to his opened chest. Everything was scattered about inside of it. He hoped what he was looking for wasn't broken. After a few more seconds of scouring, he pulled forth a cloth and bottle of red liquid. He walked over and handed them to her as she had pulled a stool next the bed. She bit her lip.
"What?" He was about to ask if she didn't want to do it. She looked disconcerted.
"I don't want to make it worse." Marickiya took the two items and held them, giving him pleading look. His shoulders sagged in defeat and he heaved a sigh.
"Let's get his tunic off…" He grasped the man's shoulder to pull him up while Mari worked the tunic over his wound and off of him. "I'll see if I can't find him something else to wear," he said as she tossed the ruined purple tunic aside. Link laid him back down and pointed at the cloth and bottle he had laid next to her.
"You can use the entire thing if you need to. Just pour it on the cloth and dab it." She nodded and tentatively set to work.
The first few daubs were difficult. Vaati hissed in pain when she tried wiping the blood around the wound. There must have been some sort of soothing agent in the ointment, for after a while, Vaati was peaceful again. Once she got a rhythm going and didn't need to concentrate on not hurting Vaati any more, she was able to relax a bit. Link was bustling quietly around the room. Her mind wandered.
Her thoughts fell onto what she was about to say to Link before they discovered Vaati on their doorstep. He had asked if her life at the Fortress was bad. She'd never really had the time, nor the desire, to dwell on her former life. When Link first questioned her about how she ended up in Kakariko with the man Jerais, she had told him she'd been banished.
In reality, she had barely escaped with her life; her only help was her best friend Naly and Jerais. The memories flooded back and her hands trembled. She shook so much her fingers lost their grip on the cloth she was using to clean Vaati's wound and it slunk down to the floor at her feet. She gave a small shuddering sigh.
"Here," came Link's voice from next to her. She looked up to see him handing her a folded black tunic. She took it and let it unfold to get a look at it.
"You wore this to the ball." She stated. Link shrugged.
"It's not my style." He waved like he was brushing away the subject. She smiled warmly at him even though his back was turned.
In hindsight, she was relieved she didn't relive every grueling detail of what happened. She pushed the horrific scenes from her head and bent down to retrieve her dropped rag. Looking over her progress on Vaati's wounded chest, she decided she no longer needed the bloodied cloth. She had only used half of the contents of the bottle, too. Pleased with her work, she folded the rag and placed it on top of the corked bottle. She looked up and watched Link moving objects about the room. Anything that was utterly destroyed he placed in a growing pile next to the front door. He put away the small salvageable items in their rightful place and nudged furniture into their original positions. By the time the thought to get up and help a bit crossed her mind, he had sat down in a bar-like stool at the tall table placed in the center of the room, clearly finished with his own work. It was well into the night at that point and she knew he must feel pretty tired. If Vaati didn't awaken soon, she would suggest he sleep up in her loft. For the moment though, still lost in her own musings, she sat in silence and watched Vaati's slow breathing.
How long had he been passed out in the rain for, she wondered. And how had he sustained such an injury? It had to have been an attack of some sort, the wound being squarely in the center of his chest like that.
Something that she hadn't paid any mind earlier in the night suddenly screamed to be remembered. She'd been rescued by someone at the Temple of Time's courtyard and it wasn't Link. Her gaze lingered on the mage under her care. So many questions were whizzing around in quick succession, question she'd have to wait for Vaati to awaken before there were to be answered. The man was a puzzle she was aching to figure out. In their first meeting he said he was a traveler, not from this country. Like her, he seemed to have just appeared in Hyrule one day, to be roped in with her people's battle against a powerful foe; neither truly having a reason to fight, but still apart of the army nonetheless.
She was under the impression that he had come to their house for help. Did he have no where else to go? He was a drifter after all. So am I, she thought. She was lucky though, that Link had been kind enough to offer his home to her. Now that she was so involved in helping Link in the fight against Ganondorf, she was going to stick with him. But what about after? Given that they would be triumphant in the battle, where would she go then? She turned tired eyes up to her brother, though he knew nothing of their relation. She quietly stood and moved her stool to the table, across from the Hylian. He watched her as she moved.
"Link?" Marickiya said. He remained silent but continued to gaze intently to show she had his attention. "This is my home now right?" He was almost caught off guard by the trepidation behind her words.
He hadn't given it any thought. He was so used to her being around, it hadn't crossed his mind that she'd probably leave soon to live on her own. Now that it was truly brought to his attention, it didn't take him long to come up with an answer.
"If you want it to be." She smiled warmly at him.
0000
Vaati could not recall the last time he had fallen unconscious involuntarily. Equally, it had been a while since he'd actually slept. The mixture of the two had him pretty groggy as he began to come to. Slowly he gathered his wild thoughts into order, to remember what he was doing…
He had been on the move, camping wherever he could, trying not to stay in one place too long. He had been avoiding someone, and was having a difficult time remembering exactly who at that moment. Then he remembered the pain. He'd been injured very recently. Why was that?
It all started to flood back to him. Lana had found him, had attacked on Ganondorf's orders, and he barely escaped. Then it became blurred once more. He couldn't think of what happened in-between his escape and falling unconscious.
His heart fluttered as the realization that he had no idea where he was set in. He heard voices mumbling very near him but could barely comprehend them through his anxiety.
It was then that a sharp pain, much like an electric shock, danced across his torso, startling him. He knew it to be his own magic a second after it happened, but he still sucked in a surprised breath.
Awareness returned to him in an instant. He knew the noise he'd made wouldn't go unnoticed by those inhabiting the room with him. He heard movement, someone was approaching him. They stopped and hovered beside him. He covertly opened his eye minutely but could only make out a shadow.
"What's this?" One of the voices he heard from before came from the shadow above him. Through his slit eyelid, he saw what could only be their hand moving towards his face. He briefly felt fingers touching the matted hair that hung over the right side of his face before he reacted.
His eye was open all the way and in an instant, had snatched the arm above his head. He grasped it tightly. They stared at one another for a few seconds.
"I see you're awake."
He blinked a few times as understanding finally dawned on him. He released his grasp.
"Marickiya." He said with a note of bewilderment behind his tone. She took her arm back gingerly.
"You almost sound surprised to see me." Marickiya massaged her wrist but held eye-contact. "For someone who was passed out on our doorstep." She gave him an expectant look.
Vaati sat up and leaned against the pillows. When he didn't respond, Marickiya went on. "How did you end up here?" She pulled up her stool closer to him while he thought on his reply.
"I... do not remember." He said slowly as he kneaded his forehead with the heal of his hand. He wasn't looking, but Marickiya's expression softened.
"What do you remember?" She asked soothingly. Link crossed his arms behind her. Vaati's hesitation was minuscule, he decided on the truth.
"I was attacked." He placed a hand to his chest where the skin had reformed and a circular scar was beginning to take form.
"We first found you at the bottom of the stairs. When we tried to help you up is when we noticed your wound. I cleaned it up the best I could. It seems to have worked rather well. Oh," here she pulled out the extra tunic Link had offered to her earlier, "This is yours now. Your other one was destroyed." Vaati took the black fabric when Link piped up from behind the Gerudo girl.
"That potion I gave Mari to use doesn't work that quickly." He didn't move from his spot, just continued to cross his arms and stare indeterminately towards the man in his bed. Marickiya gave him a quizzical look, but it was Vaati who spoke next.
"My magic heals my injuries more quickly than any ointment or potion."He began testing out the newly formed tissue, twisting his torso left and right.
"Does it happen automatically?" Marickiya seemed more interested in the topic of his magic than why he was there.
"Only when I am conscious." He smirked inwardly at her awed expression. Link, however, was not so easily impressed.
"That pretty useless. If you fall unconscious before your magic can heal a fatal wound, then you'd be finished." Though Marickiya gave Link another look, this time a scathing one for being so critical, she couldn't help but think he had a point. Vaati no longer looked smug.
"I do not usually allow myself acquire such wounds." Link was far from sharing sympathies with the sorcerer but he uncrossed his arms and decided to drop the critical questions.
"Who attacked you?" Link asked of Vaati, though his words didn't hold the warmth that Marickiya's did.
"The same woman who has been following you, Lana. I underestimated her tactics." He said said with a grim expression.
"You shouldn't underestimate what a woman can do." Marickiya said with a lopsided grin. Vaati closed his eyes and nodded in silent agreement.
"She uses some pretty violent magic, though I'm sure it is not her own. I barely escaped. I cannot remember too well what happened in between being hit and waking up here."
"Were you attacked for helping us?" Vaati was a bit startled by the quick succession of her questions. By the way she sounded at the last one, she had been itching to ask it for a while.
"Yes," he conceded. "She saw me at the temple." Marickiya 'hah'-ed in triumph. Link looked interested now.
"You were at the Temple of Time?" Vaati nodded.
"I sensed something was happening. Both there and at this village. I noticed Lana at the temple followed by a massive horde of monsters. Then the two of you showed up."
"But what did you do that caused her to attack?" Link asked. Marickiya turned to him sheepishly.
"Do you remember when we got separated?" Link nodded slowly. "I, um, got into a bit of trouble," she pulled down her dry shirt she had changed into earlier over her shoulder. A darkly lined bruise had appeared there.
"I never realized you got hurt." He got up to get a better look at her injury.
"It's not that bad. I've had worse." It would have been worse if it weren't for the thick leather the Sheikah woman had used to modify the back of her Kokiri tunic. Link decided not to comment on what else was 'worse.' "When I went down, I could do nothing to defend myself from another attack. Vaati saved my life." She turned back to the mage. "Thank you."
The man seemed to be lost for words. He simply nodded his reply to her thanks.
She stood up suddenly.
"I forgot. I left your cloak out in the rain." She hurried over to the door and had her hand on the doorknob. Then turned to Link. "Will you join me outside for a second?"
Link and Vaati looked to each other briefly for a second.
"Sure," he said and got up to follow her. She opened the door and he was just behind her. The rain had stopped but the air was still thick with its scent. He shut the door and looked at the girl expectantly.
"I think we should let him stay. You know, if he doesn't have a place already." She said in one breath. Link actually took a step back.
"What?" he said loudly and she held up her hands to shush him.
"No, listen. He's done nothing but help us and now he's being attacked for doing that. We can't just leave him alone." She explained imploringly.
"We sure can." Link said defiantly. Her brow furrowed.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't trust him," Link responded after a pause. Marickiya crossed her arms and leaned back.
"Why not?" She said. Link let out a huff.
"I'm not sure. I feel like he's hiding something." He said hurriedly. Marickiya let out an exasperated huff.
"Did you not think I could have been hiding something before you let me live here?" she asked pointedly. He sputtered.
"Well… You wouldn't hide anything." It was almost sad to her how much it showed on his face that he wanted believe his own words.
"Guess again, 'Hero'," she used his nickname that Sally used so much, but it wasn't nearly as endearing. "You know next to nothing about me or what happened to me at the Gerudo's Fortress. I could have been an assassin."
"You're not an assassin are you?" he mumbled under his breath. She rolled her eyes. "How can you trust him so easily?" he said indignantly, trying hard to keep the volume of his voice in check.
"Oh I don't know, he's only warned us about the enemies plans and saved my life." Her foot began to tap.
"Look," he was getting frustrated that she wouldn't see it from his point, "I can't explain it. I just don't trust him. Even Impa said to be careful around him."
"All he's ever done is help us." He shifted on the spot uncomfortably. He didn't have anything to say in response so she just plowed on. "When you took me in, you had more than just a feeling to distrust me. The leader of my race is your sworn enemy."
He was very much tired of the conversation. Marickiya could tell. She decided now was the time for her ace. She unfurled her fists and uncrossed her arms.
"You said this is my home now, right?" He didn't want to reply. "I want to offer our home to a friend in need." Link looked up at her. She was giving him a meaningful look. He sighed.
"Fine." Marickiya leaped into the air with a squeak. Then she bolted towards the stairs to grab Vaati's drenched cloak and rushed towards the door. Link put his hand over hers to halt her.
"I'm keeping an eye on him though." Marickiya nodded to him rather impatiently.
Vaati was standing beside their center table with the dark tunic Link had given him adorned. Link was happy to see his bed free again and wanted nothing more than to crawl under his covers and sleep. Marickiya opened her mouth to speak.
"I must thank you for treating my wounds. May I ask the two of you a few questions?" The Hero of Time and his female companion looked between each other.
"I suppose." Marickiya said quietly. She walked to their table and sat down. Vaati joined her and folded his hands on the counter top.
Vaati had already guessed the both of them were discussing allowing him to stay. He hadn't intended to be rude by cutting across when Mari was about to speak, but he wanted to get on with the questioning and be on his way. He was never supposed to meddle too much and he'd already saved this girl's life. Although, it wasn't as if he truly followed his orders to a 'T'...
"I wondered if you could tell me everything you know about Ganondorf." The two exchanged another brief glance.
"Well," Marickiya decided she'd go first, "All that I really know about him is that he was a bit of a tyrannical leader of the Gerudo in the desert to the west." She put it simply.
"You're a Gerudo." Vaati stated in matter-of-fact way. She made a wry expression.
"You have a good memory," she said through a grimace. Vaati blinked, unsure if he had offended her or not. "Link will know more about the man than me, though." She gestured to the aforementioned Hylian. Link's arms were suddenly crossed again.
"Why do you want to know?" Marickiya, at that point, was exhausted by Link's attitude towards the mage. Vaati was quiet for a moment.
"I have been sent here to bring an end to threats against Hyrule's prosperity." He stated regally. Link made an impatient noise.
"Pretty words. Where have you been in the last seven years?"
"Seven years?" Vaati was a bit taken aback. Link raised his eyebrows.
"He's a traveler." Marickiya piped up, and they both turned to her. "He told me when we first met. He's never been to Hyrule before, like me."
Link was now fully aware that he had in his company two people who had no clue of Ganondorf's tyranny. He almost laughed to himself.
Link began his explanation with what started seven years ago, when Ganondorf was to have a meeting with the King of Hyrule, swearing fealty to him. How that went all wrong and the thief from the West entered the Sacred Realm and took the Triforce for himself. Then he reigned for seven years until the Hero of Time arose and defeated him.
"Where is the Hero of Time now?" Vaati interrupted. Link fumbled with his words for a moment, then leaned back even farther in his chair. Marickiya noticed the bit of his knuckles she could see beneath his bracers had turned white. She got the feeling he wasn't too keen to reveal the information. He took in a breath to speak. Vaati let out a small noise in understanding.
"I realize, now, how silly that question must seem to you." He began. Link pursed his lips, something he'd seen Impa do during their conversations together. "I believe I am right in my guess, given your reaction just now, your involvement in the fight against Ganondorf, and the fact that you possess quite a powerful sword," he gestured at the Master Sword, "That you are the Hero of Time." Link's facial features remained tight and unresponsive to a single word coming from Vaati. In the end, he merely gave a half of a nod in affirmation. "I am sorry." The mage said, completely catching the Hero off guard. "It must have been difficult growing up under his rule." And before Link could comprehend how much more the conversation could become convoluted, he said
"I didn't." Mentally slapping himself as Marickiya and Vaati both gave him extra confused arched eyebrows, he explained his statement more elaborately. He began his story in the Kokiri Forest, the place he grew up. Marickiya was quiet at this part, already knowing this information from the Deku Sprout. The mage listened intently with an almost passive air, but when the story arrived at Link pulling the Master Sword causing him to become sealed within the Sacred Realm, his demeanor changed.
"Are you saying that your consciousness is that of a ten year old?" Link blinked.
"No!" Link wanted to pull at his hair in impatience, "After defeating Ganon, I returned the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time and was sent back to the time before I had pulled it..." he trailed lamely. He really didn't know how to explain more simply than that. Vaati seemed to be lost in thought however, his fingers brushing his pale chin.
"'Hero of Time.' A more fitting title than I previously realized."
'There are other means to travel through time. Does this surprise you, young sorcerer?' That melodious voice fluttered in between his ears. His hand moved towards his lips and he grinned behind his fingers.
"So when you were sent back to live out your lost childhood..." Marickiya said mostly to herself. Unlike Vaati who completely grasped the concept, was still piecing together the story.
"I didn't stay in Hyrule. The P-princess-" he cleared his throat at his stutter, "She told me it would be better to leave and return once the final battle was over. I have not lived in Hyrule for the past seven years." It was easy to tell that this memory haunted Link like nothing else. How he couldn't be there for all of Hyrule's people when they were unknowingly depending on him.
"Ganondorf may be powerful," Marickiya said after a long pause, "But this time he's got us to deal with." Link looked up.
"Us?" Her face turned a bit pink.
"You, me, and Vaati. You don't have to do it on your own this time." Link almost laughed, but instead smiled at her spirit.
"What do you say, Vaati?" She held out a hand to him. Vaati started at the suddenness of her offer, even though he had been expecting it. What could he say now that didn't make him look suspicious?
"I, uh..." he eyed the both of them warily.
'Take the offer.' The voice demanded with such force, he didn't give another second of hesitation. He took her hand.
"I want to thank you both for aiding me. I would also like to do all I can to help you in the fight against Ganondorf." A huge grin split across Marickiya's face and she thrust her free fist into the air.
"Alright! Welcome to the team." She bounded over to Link and began talking animatedly, though Vaati wasn't paying attention to a single word. He let out a shaky breath.
Normally, he wouldn't be allowed to have too much contact with people. Let alone make friends. He asked of the voice their motives behind pushing him towards these two.
'All will become clear with Time.'
He scoffed at the vague reply, then made a slight at their omnipotence. If he was sent here on their orders, why could he not know the full extent of their plan to save the land. He received no response, which irritated him.
"What's wrong, Vaati?" He looked up as Marickiya questioned him. Had he been making an annoyed face? He groaned internally.
"There is nothing wrong." He stood up and faced the both of them, giving a small courteous bow. "You have my gratitude, once again, for allowing me a place here. For tonight however, I must see to a few things."
"Like what?" she looked eager, like she would like nothing more than to accompany him.
"Nothing I cannot handle on my own." When his statement didn't seem to satisfy her, he continued. "I want to retrieve my belongings I left at my previous camp." She still didn't seem content with his answer.
"Is it far? What about Lana?" He grinned at her worry.
"I believe she presumes me to be dead. I will not be caught unaware a second time. I will return in the morning." Before anything else was said, his body turned to a black shadow, and a small gust blew it away in wisps, leaving a few of their household belongings rustling in its wake. Link scowled.
"Oh, I'm going to hate that." Marickiya giggled.